Draws on firsthand accounts of pitched sea battles, skillful negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvers to offer a complete history of Venice's centuries-long reign as a naval power and maritime trading empire.

Prologue: departure -- Part I. Opportunity: Merchant Crusaders, 1000-1204 -- Lords of Dalmatia -- The blind Doge -- Thirty-four thousand marks -- "A dog returning to its vomit" -- At the walls -- Four emperors -- "The works of hell" -- Part II. Ascent: Princes of the Sea, 1204-1500 -- A quarter and half a quarter -- Demand and supply -- "In the jaws of our enemies" -- The flag of Saint Titus -- Bridling Saint Mark -- Fight to the finish -- Stato da Mar -- "Like water in a fountain" -- City of Neptune: the view from 1500 -- Part III. Eclipse: The Rising Moon, 1400-1503 -- The glass ball -- The shield of Christendom -- "If Negroponte is lost" -- Pyramid of fire -- Hands on the throat of Venice -- Epilogue: return.